We’re having a little (that’s an understatement) heat wave in Asheville, so everyone is wearing knit Ts and tanks—as little we can get away with, honestly. But we all know that our fave knits eventually get too grungy to wear, so here’s an inventive repurposing project from AwareKnits™.

This “Save the Tees!” project is a complete DIYer, because you also make the “yarn”—affectionately known as “tarn”—from recycled Ts. Here’s how authors Vickie Howell and Adrienne Armstrong do it:

1. Get a pile of T-shirts. (Goodwill hunting is a great summer activity if you don’t have enough in your own stash.)
2. Cut off the sleeves and lay the T flat.

3. With a rotary cutter (fast!) or scissors (not quite so fast), cut each shirt into 1-inch (2.5-cm) strips. Perfection is optional. Snip each piece at a side seam, so it’s a strip and not a circle.

4. Stretch the strip so the edges curl a bit. (This is fun!)

5. Knot the strips together and roll. After you’ve got a yummy ball of yarn, you’re ready to crochet. Here are the instrux.

The crafty ladies have some other suggestions for reusing Ts. If you’d like some other options, try a few of these ideas:

1. Sew a quilt out of concert tees. (I’ve been thinking about doing this for years.)
2. Knit a yoga bag.
3. Crochet a bed for your pet. (This may not be too popular with Banana, my loopy parakeet, but Ira G. might like it.)
4. Recover a chair cushion.
5. Make a café curtain with tees and fabric. (You could have fun embellishing this project with buttons and trims from your stash, too.)